Drywall repair

[George Marsh]

Spent the last 5 days putting a rental house back together. I can repair drywall with no problem. What I don't like is when finished, the repaired section is nice and smooth, while the rest of the old drywall has a textured orange peel look. I don't care how many time I use a roller and paint it, I can still tell where the repaired section is because it's smooth. I've tried about everything to give the drywall mud a textured look, but nothing seems to work.

Wish there was a hard rubber roller with an orange peel texture built in, so I could give my last thin coat of mud some charactor.
 

[ray hofstetter]

George,
I take a wet sponge and BARELY touch the last coat of mud, LIGHTLY sand it and it blends right in. It took me awhile to find the RIGHT sponge-and i don't ever want to lose that sponge
 

[Mark-Ia]

You can buy texture in a can. If you spray it just right, you can match the texture you have now.
 

[Stephen Newell]

A picture would help. There is so many different types of texture it would be impossible for anyone to tell you how its done without seeing it.
 

[George Marsh]

Mark, Never seen texture in a can. Who sells it?

I use a wet sponge instead of sanding, that way there is no dust in an existing house.

Just saw the pic of a basketball on TV. Got me to thinking if I used a basketball to stomp a thin layer drywall mud, it would leave an impression.
 

[bill mart]

home depot has textured paint. Bill
link

 

[Jo Bird]

The best thing I have found is to add a quart of drywall mud to a gallon of latex paint, this covers the smooth repaired section with some texture and blends the surrounding area as well. If you need more texture add more mud. The other thing is to stay away from glossy paints which reflect light. I'm not saying it is the ultimate cure, but you might give it a try.
 

[MSD]

If you have a small area to do, put a little wet mud on a cardboard and take an air nozzle and shoot a light shot at the mud. It will spatter on the wall just like spraying does. Otherwise the stuff in a can will cover a bigger area. Remember it dries smaller than it looks wet.
 

[LenND]

You can buy orange peel texture at Menards in a spray can. Works great too.
 

[Stan in Oly, WA]

Hi George,

Home Depot sells the spray texture in a can that Mark-Ia mentioned. If I remember correctly, it comes with three different sized tubes to put in the nozzle to get different sized texture patterns. It's a perfect match for the spray texture that most cheap commercial drywall jobs use nowadays. Another thing I remember about it is that it's a one use deal. Even though there's a lot left in the can after texturing a small patch, it won't work after a short time. For cheapness, you'd be better off finding a way to match the texture with drywall mud and a brush, sponge, rag, or whatever. For fast and easy, the texture in a can is hard to beat.

Stan
 

[Steven-Id]

Spray texture is made by a company called Homax.It comes with I believe 3 spray tubes of different sizes that will give different textures. It actually works very well.


Steven
 

[George Marsh]

THANKS TO ALL. Texture in a can. Menards is 3 miles away, will check it out. Guess you are never too old to learn something new. Definately try it. I hate to fill nail holes tenants leave behind, this will hide them, not to mention the major holes made too. Many thanks.
George
 

[IOWA NORTHEAST]

I certianly doubt if you will be happy with the spray can....I have seen several, and I have tried several times, but never happy. Google drywall repair, they show a square plate with a handle that you texture, then stamp it to the ceiling, I borrowed mine to another carpender, and I simply can not remember the name of it.k
 

[OHReader]

I wonder if his mismatch is also caused by the paint on the old drywall, kind of like how it's hard to blend in car paint in the middle of a body panel. In a how-to tip column in a builder's magazine, one pro drywaller suggested cleaning the whole wall, then skim-coating the wall with mud. Sand it easy, then repaint the whole wall.
 

[Bob85355]

My son is a drywall contractor and for small repairs dips a stiff brush (like you clean your tires with) in the drywall mud and flicks the bristles with his fingers towards the patch. Changing the consistency of the mud will let you match texture.

Bob